Varlamov lifts Avs past Flyers

Goalie comes up with 29 saves in close win

DENVER -- Semyon Varlamov was the man again for the Avalanche, as the Russian netminder led Colorado to a 2-1 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

Varlamov got goal support from Jamie McGinn and Ryan O'Reilly in the win, which improved the Avs' record to 2-0-1 on their seven-game homestand.

"I thought our defense, everybody, helped me out a lot," Varlamov said. "I just tried to make the first save."

He made the first and 28 more for 29 saves on 30 shots.

"Varly was great, and we played a good game defensively, there's no doubt about it," Avs coach Patrick Roy said. "I thought we did a really good job coming and helping out in our end. I was very happy with our performance. Five-on-five, I thought we did a really good and our PK was perfect, three-for-three."

The Avs played a strong first period, outshooting the Flyers 11-9. It was a 9-3 advantage with just a bit more than four minutes left when Cody McLeod put Philly on the power play with the first of two minors on the night.

Varlamov stopped former Avs player Steve Downie on a breakaway on the Flyers' power play, after Downie slipped in behind the defense to receive a pass from the Flyers' end zone.

The Avs got a 1-0 lead at 11:14 when McGinn scored his second goal in as many games, cleaning up a rebound in front of Flyers goalie Steve Mason.

"I've got to give linemates credit there. E.J.

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(Erik Johnson) actually made a great play stepping up, breaking up a play, and Dutchy (Matt Duchene) came up the middle," McGinn said. "I just picked up the loose change."

The Avs took the body in the first, giving a few rough hits to the Flyers. One of them, from Gabe Landeskog, sent Flyers forward Michael Raffl out of the game with a concussion after hitting him along the boards.

"We knew it was going to be a physical game," McGinn said. "Hats off to Varly again. He was great again tonight."The Avs extended their lead to 2-0 at 9:17 of the second. O'Reilly finished off a great shift by coming down the left side and beating Mason from the short side for his 14th goal.

The two-goal lead would last a little more than four minutes, when Wayne Simmonds scored his 13th on a nice tip of an Andrej Meszaros shot.

The Avs played a fairly cautious third period, trying to preserve a 2-1 lead. Varlamov made a great save on Brayden Schenn with 6:40 left, and Colorado's penalty kill unit did a nice job killing a disadvantage a couple of minutes earlier.

"The lesson is clear: We don't want to be satisfied," Roy said. "We want more. I think that's the approach we try to have every day. (Today) is a new day and we have to be ready for San Jose (Saturday). We want to work even harder, and we want more. That's the only way we're going to be in the playoff picture at the end."

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